The celebration of the 20th anniversary of CKSA took place at the CSKA Ice Sports Palace. Kind words and congratulations were offered by Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov, Goskomsport Minister Vycheslav Fetisov, and renowned "armeitsy": Alexander Gomelsky, Vladislav Tretyak, Irina Rodnina and Russian entertainment stars.
Addressing the guests, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov announced: "The Defense Ministry is proud of the fact that your club is an army structure, and furthermore that it sets an example for military organs, demonstrating in practice how true professionals win not with numbers, but with skills. The first Olympic gold medal brought home for our homeland was the discus thrower Nina Romashkova. The first of our track athletes to take the top spot on the medals stand twice in one Olympic games was the great long-distance runner Vladimir Kuts; first of the Soviet racers to capture four Olympic gold medals was the great speedskater Yevgeny Grishin."
The "armeyets" with the most titles, Vyacheslav Fetisov, having won every possible award in his career, told the young generation of Army athlete to "be worthy of the great tradition of legendary Army athletes."
"CSKA basketball was always a leader, in the domestic arena as well as in the international," said Alexander Gomelsky at the anniversary celebration. "Most importantly, CSKA always instilled patriotism in its young people. I would especially like to praise and thank the Army fans, who were always loyal to our club," said the PBC CSKA president."
Legendary goalie for CSKA and the U.S.S.R. national team Vladislav Tretyak handed the symbolic key to the Army gates to his grandson, after which Laima Vaikule sang the song "Real Men Play Hockey." The older Tretyak heartily thanked his native club. "I was lucky to have played with three generations of legendary hockey players. With Ragulin, Mikhailov, Fetisov. All of them played their way into the history books. And it beyond that, it wasn’t much work for me to guard the castle gates," Tretyak joked.
The Professional Basketball Club CSKA took active part in the organization and holding of the celebratory evening. On the VIP tribune were club president Alexander Gomelsky and general director Sergei Kushchenko. The basketball team’s cheerleaders preformed on the stage together with Oleg Gazmanov. A video clip showed CSKA highlights from the past and present. Songaila, Holden, Panov, Khryapa and Monya made shots on the video screen together with Belov, Tarakanov, Myshkin and Tkachenko, and current head coach Dusan Ivkovic also directed the game emotionally, as Alexander Gomelsky once did.
The evening’s concert featured Russian music stars: Lev Leshchenko, Larisa Dolina, nadezhda Babkina, Alexander Buinov, Natasha Koroleva, the group Strelki, and others.
VTB Teams:
League&Tournament:
